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Wednesday, 28 December 2016

The Walking Dead.... one of my favourite TV shows, a great dark violent program showing how mankind tries to survive in the wake of a Zombie apocalypse, and the things some people will do to achieve that. Now this is based on the original comic book series, rather then the TV show, which I admit I have never read, but there are plenty of characters to enjoy you will know from the TV show, so do not worry if you are in the same situation as me.

Previously my only delve into the Walking Dead gaming was robert kirkmans walking dead board game from Zman Games which gives you a very different feel to this game, that is focused more on moving around a map and securing supplies, which is similar in theme, but here its zoomed right in! and its not only walkers you must face here, but rival gangs who are the same thing as you... to gather what they need to stay alive, and they are not averse to stopping you anyway they can.

I know Mantic fairly well from the excellent hybrid board and war game Mars Attacks, the futuristic sport game Dreadball Xtreme and the excellent tabletop miniature skirmish war game Deadzone V2.0. the Mantic guys are no strangers to coming up with great miniatures, and great games to go with them. The Walking Dead All out War is their latest one.

The Walking Dead: All Out War is a tactical
head-to-head game set in the walker-strewn Georgia countryside, a
survival miniatures game from Mantic Games based on the characters from
the pages of the bestselling The Walking Dead comic series.
Your group will be pitted against other groups in a bitter fight for
supplies, but the Walkers react to your every move. In this game,
everyone and everything is trying to kill you.
In more detail, each player controls their own group of survivors made up of popular characters from The Walking Dead
storyline, such as Rick, Shane, Michonne and many more. Each survivor
is represented by a finely-detailed plastic miniature, which can be
painted in your color scheme of choice. It comes with a character card
highlighting their game stats and unique abilities, and it can be
upgraded with a selection of weapon and equipment cards.
The game is set around Atlanta and the surrounding suburbs, and
contains a gaming mat and a selection of barricades, abandoned cars and
supplies to give it that authentic The Walking Dead atmosphere.
Your survivors move across the board using the measuring stick included
with the game, and you use the terrain to block Walker routes, sneak up
on opposing survivors, or raid enemy camps for supplies.
During the game, you fight a bitter battle for resources against a
rival group of survivors – but be careful not to make too much noise as
you'll draw the attention of the Walkers, which are controlled by an AI
system developed specifically for this game. They attack anyone who
comes within reach — and because they are AI-controlled, you can play
the game solo.

Its really nicely presented, in an Xwing style box with cut out so you can see the models inside to get a feel for them.

on the back gives you all the information you need, 1-2 players... yes it can be played solo!!! thank you Mantic for that, you know how much I love solo games, and this plays excellently that way as well as 2 players let me tell you!.

Play time of 30-60 minutes seems about right, when you know what you are doing this game can whizz along, and ages 14 and up... well that may be the content matter, since Olivia was fine with it with only a little help. Another touch I really enjoyed, small though it is, is the player count symbol, with a player wearing ricks sheriff hat, its a nice touch that has been on all the Mantic line, and its nice to see it continue.

you get a little contents overview on the back, and they have sure packed a while lot into a little box.

Tuesday, 27 December 2016

Recently Wixkids have been reissuing some of the older harder to find Attack wign ships which is a good thing, with new and usualluy better paint jobs too, which is an even better thing! so today we get to take a look at what comes in the reprint of one of the classic Klingon D7 battlecruisers.

The IKS Gr'oth was a Klingon D7-class battle cruiser that was in service with the Klingon Imperial Fleet in the mid-23rd century. In 2268, the Gr'oth was under the command of Captain Koloth. The starship's first officer was Korax.
In that year, the Gr'oth entered Federation space and demanded shore leave rights at Deep Space K-7 after completing a six-month mission. It left the station with an engine room full of tribbles.

In 2269, the projected stasis field, a weapon capable of disabling the warp drives and completely paralyzing all the vital systems of enemy ships, was installed on the Gr'oth. In that year, the Gr'oth pursued a Federation scoutship piloted by Cyrano Jones, a Federation citizen who was responsible for causing ecological sabotage to a Klingon planet and stealing a Klingon glommer. Koloth attempted to disable the USS Enterprise, under Kirk's command, in order to retrieve Jones and the glommer.

As always, for the build its under 50 points, and using only cards that come in the set. This is a great set for adding more crew and fun options to your dominion fleet with a very useful captain and some powerful crew.

For our first build as always we take the named ship. Its ability to add an extra attack dice at the expense of a defence dice can be useful in the right moment when you are out of fire arc of your enemy.

For Captains I took Weyoun. Skill 6 so he is solid, though no elite talent, but he makes up for that in his ability. You can disable him to avoid discarding one of your crew upgrades, it is not an action, though you will need an action to re-enable him. He works very well with Toman`Torax, who has a powerful ability you can discard him and a crew upgrade of your choice from an enemy ship regardless of cloaked or shielded!. Powerful on its own, but combined with weyoun keeping him there he becomes very very scary indeed!

The pack only comes with one weapon upgrade, the Phased Polaron Beam. only range 1-2 and 3 attack dice, but it does cut right through enemy shields so can be very useful, and does not use a target lock.

For our tech I have taken the long range Tachyon scan, you can spend a scan token to force your enemy to roll 2 less dice. useful for getting through the enemies defences.

Its a good multipurpose build, with Weyoun and Toman Torax it is a powerful ship to assassinate enemy crew, and is manoeuvrable enough to concentrate on doing that and still throw out some attack dice to harass.

Sunday, 25 December 2016

A seasonal greeting to all of you! to all our old followers and new alike, friends far and wide, in New Zealand and America and where ever you may be, may the season be good, and many toys be provided for you by understanding family, and may you get much hobby time to enjoy games new and old alike. Perhaps start a new project? or worse.... asses the pile of unpainted toy soldiers that await you for the new year. If that's the case, why not join us in a 2017 painting challenge? pledge a number, and see what you can achieve keeping us all updated on the facebook page.

Lets hope your Christmas has not ended up like this, I know mine did... dang lights! I didn't learn my lesson from last year.. chuck them in the box, its next years problem.. thanks past me.... douche!

Many thanks for following us through out the year, and best wishes from us here to you for the holiday season.

Thursday, 22 December 2016

Its always a great time to get to look at new ships for the excellent Xwing Game, and this pack is certainly no exception. Themed on the Force awakens film we get the new (old?) Falcon, and Poes pimped out T70.

Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, and the heroes of The Force Awakens fight for freedom with the Heroes of the Resistance Expansion Pack for X-Wing™. Featuring new sculpts for the Millennium Falcon and Poe Dameron’s black-and-orange T-70 X-wing, Heroes of the Resistance also expands your fleet with three unique X-wing pilots, as well as new versions of Han Solo and Chewbacca. Meanwhile, the pack’s eighteen upgrades introduce new elite pilot talents, Tech upgrades, and unique Title upgrades for both the Millennium Falcon and Black One.

It comes in the nice hefty box all the "Ace" style expansions do, so lets pop it open, see what comes inside......

Tuesday, 20 December 2016

Welcome to
another Ship build.The Ferengi D’Kora
class Kreechta is the star of the show today.As always I shall only use the cards in the pack, and no more then 50pts
in total.Then look at the role the ship
can play in a fleet, which is a bit more difficult for the Ferengi, with such
few ships.

So what's in this build?

We Start with the named ship the Kreechta, she allows you to get an almost inbuilt free target lock when attacking a ship with damaged shields.

Thursday, 15 December 2016

Originally designed as an escort for larger Star Destroyers, the smaller Gladiator-class Star Destroyer measures roughly five-hundred meters and proved most effective as a long-range patrol ship deployed to the fringes of the galaxy. There, its brutal armament of turbolasers, concussion missiles, laser cannons, and TIE squadrons allowed it to quickly subjugate any local opposition to the Galactic Empire.

Its time to look at one of the first wave of reinforcements for the Imperial fleet in Armada. so stay with us and we open the box and check it out.....

Tuesday, 13 December 2016

Its quite a challenge sometimes deciding on the best build for your ship, you of course need to know the role she will perform, and add things to enhance her ability to work in that role. Today we are looking at the Scums Protectorate fighter, and seeing how best to kit her out, and then use her.

As you can, simple choices.... but what are they and how do we use her? lets take a closer look......

Wednesday, 7 December 2016

Time to take a look at the Shadow Caster for the scum faction, and see how best we can equip her, and what role she can perform in your fleet. As always only using the cards that come in the pack along with her.

Quite tooled out for this one, but all have their reasons..... lets take a closer look at them.......

Monday, 5 December 2016

Its that time again when we get to look into he latest chapter pack for A Game of Thrones the Card Game. There is My Claim and see what wonders it adds to the game!

Like all the expansion packs you get 60 cards, 20 new ones, with 3 copies of each for your deck building.

“Valar morghulis,” she said once more, and the stranger in Jaqen's clothes bowed to her and stalked off through the darkness, cloak swirling. She was alone with the dead men.–George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings

There Is My Claim is the fourth Chapter Pack in the War of Five Kings cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game!

War wracks the Seven Kingdoms. Baratheon, Tyrell, Lannister, and Stark armies march into battle against each other, while Greyjoy raiders prey upon the coast and strike at undefended strongholds. Five kings have been crowned, and each will pursue his claim as long as he draws breath. Death is everywhere, in the gory aftermath of battles and the carnage wrought by pillaging soldiers. In the midst of all this tumult and destruction, one young girl receives a worn metal coin and first hears the fateful words: “Valar morghulis.”

There Is My Claim is the fourth Chapter Pack in the War of Five Kings cycle for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, and it continues your journey through A Clash of Kings, the second book in George R.R. Martin’s epic saga. Here, you can evoke the turmoil of the War of the Five Kings with plenty of new cards that interact with Kings, even as the winter winds rise and the Summer and Winter plot traits become more important to your strategy. Finally, you also gain access to powerful new unique characters, including Jojen Reed, Pyat Pree, Jaqen H’ghar, and new versions of Stannis Baratheon and Aeron Damphair

Thursday, 1 December 2016

Viking games seem to be quite the in thing now, I'm seeing all sorts of ones around, but they mainly face on combat, and going Viking was more then that, trade routes, mastering the see, and of course yes subjugating your enemies.

So lets look at Bardagi, a game that looks to put all that into one place.....

Dissolution has occurred in the Vikings homeland; the country´s resources are depleted and there is turbulence in the society. The High Jarl has invited a group of brave people the opportunity to try their luck in a newly discovered group of islands. The islands are rich of natural resources and your task is to gain control of these resources from the Barbarian tribes currently occupying the area. The takeover is to be done in any way possible; through trade, religious conversion or direct conflict. If you manage to overtake areas peacefully, the Barbarians might join your clan and aid you in your task. There are areas through the island that stand neutral against any invaders and there you can buy or sell resources & learn runes. During the game, your clan tries to build up their region and over shine their rivals with vast riches and wealth. At the game end, the winner is the Clan Leader who collects the most gold!

Bardagi: The Claim for Gold is a card-driven, area management, adventure board game for 2-5 players, played in a number of rounds and each round is divided into 4 turn phases. Each player controls a group of Vikings; a Berserkur (your warrior), a Godi (your priest), a Kaupmadur (your merchant) and Knerrir (your Viking ship). These units are used to claim and overtake areas from the Barbarian tribes currently occupying the land. Players start at their home town and during the game, players overtake the areas surrounding their town to gain resources. Players gain resources each round, according to the areas owned, and with these resources they can reload the units, that are needed to overtake other areas, buy upgrades to improve their buildings, buy runes or trade resources in for gold. The aim of the game is to collect the most glory points within the given rounds to be declare the winner at game end.

It recommends ages 10 and up, but I think that's a bit too low for the amount of things going on in this game, I would say closer to 14 and up, as its a big game, and not simple at all. 2-5 players, and a game time of 90-120 minutes, it seems the games I have had so far went on a bit longer, but that may have ben due to learning still.